Taking Charge of Your Health Chapter One

Wellness: The New Health Goal Six Dimensions of Wellness: Physical Emotional Intellectual Spiritual Social Environmental . How is wellness defined? Transcends the idea of health, or the absence of physical disease and is determined by an individual’s personal decisions and includes a life lived in optimal personal, interpersonal and environmental well-being The Six Dimensions of Wellness Physical – Requires eating well, exercising, avoiding harmful habits, making responsible decisions about sex, learning about and recognizing the symptoms of disease, getting regular medical and dental checkups and taking steps to prevent injuries at home, on the road and at work. Emotional – Optimism, trust, self-esteem, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-control, satisfying relationships and an ability to share feelings are some qualities/aspects of emotional health. Spiritual- To possess a set of guiding beliefs, principles or values that give meaing and purpose to your life and others, esp. during difficult times. Involves the capacity for love, compassion, forgiveness, altruism, joy and fulfillment Intellectual- An openness to new ideas, a capacity to question and think critically, and the motivation to master new skills as well as a sense of humor, creativity and curiosity. Interpersonal and Social -Satisfying relationships. Satisfying the need for loving, supportive people in our lives. Environmental or Planetary-Safety of the food supply to the degree of violence in a society. Safety from UV radiation and air and water pollution, lead in old house paint and second-hand tobacco smoke in indoor air. Learning about and reducing exposure to such hazards

Wellness: The New Health Goal The six dimensions of wellness interact continuously influencing and being influenced by one another. Making a change in one dimension often affects some or all of the others Ex. Improving on your spiritual wellness may help increase your interpersonal and social wellness The Wellness Continuum

Wellness: Then and Now In the1900’s Since the 1900’s Infectious disease Since the 1900’s Chronic disease In the 1900’s people struggled just to stay alive into their 50’s due to infectious disease The development of vaccines and antibiotics helped reduce the number of deaths due to infectious disease Today chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death, all of which can be prevented to some degree; The best treatment for these is prevention Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death Followed by obesity and alcohol use

Leading Causes of Preventable Death in the United States

The Healthy People Initiative Healthy People 2010 has 2 goals: 1) Increase quality and years of healthy life 2) Eliminate health disparities among Americans Why would the U.S. government be concerned about a healthy population? A healthy population is the nations’ source of vitality, creativity and wealth and poor health among the population drains the nation’s resources and raises health care costs for all There are two broad goals in the Healthy People 2010 Initiative: Increase quality and years of healthy life. Sick days among Americans is a measure of how we can’t function normally due to illness. Although life expectancy has increase poor health often limits those who live longer so that’s why quality of health is just as important as increasing life expectancy. Eliminate health disparities among Americans. Many health problems affect certain populations disproportionately, like ethnic populations, people of low socioeconomic status or educational attainment and people with disabilities. Healthy People 2010 calls for eliminating disparities in health status, health risks, and use of preventitive services among all population groups.

A Sampling of Healthy People 2010 Objectives

A Sampling of Healthy People 2010 Objectives

Factors That Influence Wellness Health habits Heredity/Family history Genome Environment Access to Health care There are many examples of how health habits are related to our health Health habits Cancer and smoking Unhealthy diet and obesity Sedentary lifestyle and obesity/heart disease Walking and maintaining our weight Balanced diet and preventing many chronic diseases Heredity/Family History Consider the genome which is the complete set of genetic material in your cells. And Genes control the production of proteins that play a structural and regulatory role in your body. Errors in genes are responsible for ~3500 hereditary conditions Ex. Sickle cell and cystic fibrosis Environment What you are exposed to at home, in the workplace in the community you live in impact your wellness Family members that may abuse alcohol or drugs Access to health care Access to health care helps to prevent many diseases Ex. Vaccinations, regular checkups

Getting Serious About Your Health Examine current health habits Choose a Target Behavior One behavior you want to change; start simple Learn About Your Target Behavior Find Help

Precontemplation Contemplation Preparation Action Maintenance Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change Precontemplation Contemplation Preparation Action Maintenance Termination

Changing Your Behavior Setting Realistic Goals What do I want? Which change is the greatest priority at this time? Why is this important to me? What are the potential positive outcomes? Are there family or friends whose help I can enlist?

Taking Charge of Your Health Chapter One